The number of children from divorced couples being secretly kidnapped abroad by one of the parents is on the rise. The State Department for Justice worked last year on 746 cases – three times more than in 2004. The most common destinations: Spain, Turkey and Poland.

Increasingly frequently, fathers or mothers secretly take children abroad, often against their will, in order to remove them from their former life or marriage partner. The State Department for Justice, which is responsible for establishing contact with kidnapped individuals abroad or with individuals in Germany upon request in order to clarify the issues regarding custody rights, dealt with 746 cases last year – three times more than in 2004.

Even the international social service engaged in dealing with the children kidnapping cases talks about “several hundred cases” per year. In the middle of the last decade the number of kidnappings per year was about 250, according to the State Department. Just from 2011 to 2012, the number of reported cases rose about 12% - 2/3 of them from Germany to abroad, and 1/3 in the opposite direction.

Child kidnappings are frequent in mixed nationality relationships. Spain, Turkey and Poland are among the countries to which many children are taken. These lands cooperate with German agencies in the search, but there is a huge “grey zone”. “The real number of kidnappings must be higher,” Thomas W. Ottersbach, an official from the State Department says. The reason for this is that there are no proper treaties. Parents can go directly to the courts without the State Departments taking part in the issue.